GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Stars and Phoenix Coyotes were
either the victims of the NHL’s lockout-compressed 48-game schedule Saturday
night, as both teams tried to find energy on the second night of a back-to-back
— or both teams are simply lower-tier squads that probably won’t make the
playoffs.

The Stars clearly are hoping for the former, but the latter has to be
considered after the Coyotes took a 2-0 win in a lifeless game at lifeless
Jobing.com Arena.

The loss ended the back-to-back series between the teams with the Stars at
3-5-1 (seven points) and Phoenix at 3-4-2 (eight points).

Dallas appeared to gain momentum Friday with first-ever NHL goals for Antoine
Roussel and Brenden Dillon, as well as the league debut of big defenseman Jamie
Oleksiak, in a 4-3 shootout win in Dallas. However, the Stars failed to build on
the good vibes. They learned that Ray Whitney will be out four to six weeks with
a broken bone in his foot, and Dallas showed little life while navigating the
tough schedule and a trip to Arizona.

The Stars once again ended up on the wrong end of the penalty split as they
handed out seven power plays to one received. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said
that was the main culprit.

And while that helped lead to a 34-17 difference in shots on goal, that was
hardly the only problem for the Stars.

They have now been outscored 12-5 and outshot 112-73 in the second period.
They are 1-14-2 on the second night of back-to-backs dating to last season, and
they have scored four goals in five road games, going 1-4-0.

They have earned 28 power-play attempts and handed out 45. They have been
outshot 307-220 on the season. So is the power-play differential leading to the
shot differential, or are the Stars simply always in their own end defending,
which leads to the imbalance in special teams?

“It comes down to penalties,” said defenseman Trevor Daley. “If you’re going
to kill the whole night, you’re not going to get many opportunities. It’s been a
theme around here.”

The Stars last season had a minus-49 differential in power-play
opportunities, and that contributed to their fourth consecutive season without
making the playoffs.

“It’s tough to score goals when you’re taking that many penalties a game,”
said center Vernon Fiddler.

Gulutzan said the team would be forced to deal with the issue.

“We’re going to pay for it,” he said. “We paid for it tonight, and we’re
going to pay for it again when we get to practice.”

There were other shortcomings, as well.

“Our big guys need to step up, too; you can’t win with a goose egg,” Gulutzan
said. “We needed some guys to step up here and carry some pucks and create some
offense, and we didn’t. This was a team loss.”

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